Cleats are well known devices for securing vessels to docks. A mooring line from a boat is generally wrapped around such a cleat, thereby fastening it. Tying the mooring line to the cleat, however, is sometimes difficult. In the case of a dock cleat, it is normally necessary for a person to stand on the dock itself in order to tie off the line. In the absence of a person on the dock to do this, a person in the boat must jump off carrying the line. This creates a particular problem where only one person is in the boat. A similar problem is encountered with a mooring buoy when one attempts to secure a boat to a mooring in a lake or harbor. Maneuvering the boat to the buoy and holding it next to it for a long enough time to secure the line to the mooring ring by snagging the ring with a boat hook is somewhat difficult, particularly where only one person is in the boat and he must both maneuver the boat and tie the line at the same time.
A cleat intended for receiving a tossed line is disclosed in Brown U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,505. The structure shown does not have a very large space between its rounded converging upper surfaces for guiding a line thrown toward it into the neck and then into the enlarged lower aperture. The device works best when the line lands perpendicularly to the upper guiding surfaces. Furthermore the line may pull out of the slot as the boat comes closer to the dock and the angle between the line and the dock becomes greater due to the height of the boat.
Rosinski U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,858 shows a combined chock and cleat in which the cleat portion has a pair of horns that linearly converge to a flat bottom having an opening leading to a bottom recess. It was not designed to automatically receive and engage a thrown line.